I think Michael and Harper will bring a lot of excitement and flexibility to our offense. Both will contribute as rookies.

Simon and Williams are both very good values in the 5th round, imo.

Ware and some of the others are good picks for the future.

The only thing keeping it from a full A for me is that I would have liked to see an offensive linemen a little bit earlier. Maybe in place of the tight end? I also thought Hill was a bit of a reach, but what do I know, he might prove to be the best of all of them.

After Harvin, I say we are average at best with all the no names they took. Only hope is that they are right--------------------but then again, they have been right most of the time, except that LB they enended up giving to Raiders, ol what's his name, starts with a C--- the same grade I give our Hawks this year--------solid C

We have to remember who we have doing the drafting here... PS and JS. I have to say that I was taken back by some of their choices in the beginning, but they earned my trust when the majority of their picks really panned out for us. I'm really excited about this year, but really bummed that I couldn't get season tickets.

We have to remember who we have doing the drafting here... PS and JS. I have to say that I was taken back by some of their choices in the beginning, but they earned my trust when the majority of their picks really panned out for us. I'm really excited about this year, but really bummed that I couldn't get season tickets.

I'm really happy so many resources have been spent trying to upgrade the middle of the d-line. It was a real weak area last year and now the Hawks have signed 2 FA DTs and drafted 2 more. Wonderful! Draft, an A- factoring Percy in.

Excluding the Harvin trade and simply based on who was drafted, I give it a B; I'm just confused about drafting RB's. and some of the 6th/7th round guys probably wouldn't even have been picked up anyways. Love the Williams/Simon picks though.

if not for this FO's ability to draft wisely I would have gone with a C- probably.

Percy Harvin was a grand slam for the first rounder. He alone is worth a fairly decent grade. We also have what appear to be a couple of future starters in guys like Michael, Harper, and/or Simon. Maybe a couple others. The only reason I bumped it down from a A to a B was because those future starters are in positions we're fairly good in already. If they'd been in areas of greatest concern last year (such as pass rush specialists) this would have been an outstanding draft.

It's solid, and may well turn out very well. For now it's good, but could have been a bit better.

"The ultimate number is W's, and that’s what matters in Santa Clara. As such, Jed York does not own the 49ers; Russell Wilson does." - Paul Gutierrez

The draft though gets a B, I liked it, but it's what I expected. We didn't need much, and honestly I only see 4-5 spots on the roster that these guys will be fighting for. Jessie Williams and Hill are on the team unless they get hurt, and Micheal seems like a pick for a year or two down the road. Harper will compete for a spot, but I also won't be surprised if he is on the practice squad.

Seattle is in win now mode, and we didn't have much needs really except DT, possibly DE, but I think we have guys who can get pressure on the QB. I know some think we need an OLB, but our coaches obviously thought much differently and the draft proves that.

HUNTER wrote:After Harvin, I say we are average at best with all the no names they took. Only hope is that they are right--------------------but then again, they have been right most of the time, except that LB they enended up giving to Raiders, ol what's his name, starts with a C--- the same grade I give our Hawks this year--------solid C

Huh? You know that was the previous GM (Tim Ruskell) who drafted Curry, correct?

I gave it a B. Ware is going to be used as FB but with running skills. I think he will be fine. I am intrigued by Powell. He could be a sleeper. Not sure about any of the OL picks but I think the DTs stick around. Sounds like Williams is being penciled in as the Branch replacement for now (1st and 2nd downs). Simon looks lie he can be in the mix to backup Sherm/Browner. More likely will be in the Jeremy Lane role with mainly special teams early.

Some character/injury risks keeps the grade at a B for me.

Last edited by drdiags on Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

2-3 years of development and they will make some expensive guys take a pay cut or force them to move on.

I give them an A. Percy Harvin and Christine Michael are the type of big play guys that Seattle has rarely fielded. The result of this draft is that they have two additional playmakers that score from anywhere on the field. Throw in the Anquan Boldin clone, the stout DT run stuffer, the athletic freak of a tight end, the interior pass rusher, the corner with the long wingspan, and I'm very, very satisfied.

Last edited by Mick063 on Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"It's about us getting ready to play. It's not about the other team. We'll beat ourselves before they beat us. That's always our approach."

B. This was a BPA draft due to the overall lack of talent. Adding a 24 year old proven playmaker with the Harvin trade could really push this a little higher. I like the fact that we should be set at RB for a while. If one of them develops quickly, you potentially added trade material. Love the DT picks and the CB pick up. Overall, a draft that you can't be too mad at.

The Harvin trade looks better now than it did at the time (and it looked good then).

Addressed the interior defensive line. A great need as we had only a single viable starter and 4 depth guys. People are down on the Jordan Hill pick but forget we play a hybrid scheme where he fits better on our team than in a conventional 4-3 3 tech spot. He could be a back-up at both Red and Mebane's positions while Williams would basically play where Branch did last year.

Filled offensive depth needs at every skill position (except QB). We would have to get in a lot of injury trouble on offense for it to be very noticeable - which was not the case before (think of an injury to Marshawn, M-Rob or Zach Miller) - there would be a very noticeable drop in talent.

Grabbed value in the 5th and 7th rounds.

Snuck in Browner's replacement and K.J. Wright depth for good measure.

The only thing this team is missing right now is a good FS back-up for Earl. Besides Wilson, he is our most important player without a truly viable back-up.

Christine Michael was flying up the draft boards and a lot of teams were really excited with his abilities. Some mock drafts had him going late in the 1st round and I almost thought for sure he wouldn't make it past Detroit in the 2nd. I honestly didn't think he'd make it to our pick, unless we traded up for him. Well... We got him and he's in the perfect situation. With Lynch and Turbin, Michael can be a light-duty back and completely rehabilitate his injuries before stepping into a feature role. I look for him to really press the issue for at the RB position in a year or two.

Jesse Williams and Jordan Hill will shore up our defensive line with Mebane and Scruggs. Williams is another guy I honestly thought we wouldn't land in the 2nd round, much less pick him up in round 5. Jesse Williams will prove to be the steal of the draft. He's a monster that can really create problems for offensive lines. Jordan Hill went about where I thought he would, but I think he's going to make a big impact in the NFL as an interior pass rusher.

Chris Harper... Well... If he can be productive with Collin Klein throwing to him, he'll have a field day with someone like Russell Wilson throwing to him. I'm sorry, but Klein has one of the most inaccurate arms in the draft and a receiver has to make some impossible adjustments at times to catch his passes, which Harper did on a regular basis. Iowa also has one of the most run oriented offenses in the college ranks, so his lacking statistics don't bother me that much. Look for Harper to surprise the NFL when he has a real QB throwing the ball to him.

Tharold Simon... Sounds a lot like Richard Sherman... Converted WR with great ball skills. His drill numbers might not be that impressive, but he's a guy that's real hard to complete passes against on the field and he will make quarterbacks pay if they try to target him on a consistent basis. While his press and footwork could improve, he doesn't give up big plays. This kid could have a lot of teams kicking themselves for not taking him.

Luke Willson - Good god... How does John Schneider and Pete Carroll find these guys. This kid just may give Zach Miller a run for his money. His performance at his pro day was absolutely outstanding and he's been a primary receiving target at Rice for the last 3 years. If he gets comfortable at the NFL level, he could be a pro bowl caliber TE in the mold of Gronkowski and Gonzales.

These 6 guys will, most likely, be solid to superb starting players in a couple of years, if not sooner, and this is the reason why I give PC and JS an A on this draft. Adding Bowie, Powell, Ware and Smith in the late rounds was just frosting on the cake.

On edit: Also notice a trend with PC and JS... They like guys that've converted and played multiple positions at a high level at the high school and college level. In other words... They like football players, not one dimensional players that've been stuck at one position their entire football life.

I've learned my lesson, I'm not even trying to attempt a draft grade this year, they can just have a default A+ until proven otherwise. Every year they make picks that make me go "huh?", then they turn out to be Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, KJ Wright, etc.

The fun part is knowing that there's at least one Sherman/Kam/KJ in this class that's going to blow us away...so who is it?

First - let me say that this front office is as good at drafting as any in the league. With that said, let me put on my "I know better than them" hat.

Short-term, I see lots of roster spots but minimal contributions. Michael will get some carries and DTs will see the field. Outside of that, I think it will take injuries and ST for this group to contribute in 2013.

Mid-term. There are oodles of potential starters. I think it will take a couple years for this group to grow into its skin a bit, but in a few years, I think there are 4+ legit, long-term starters from the group.

Pro-Bowlers. This group has a ton of upside, and the huge collection of picks means that we could throw the dice lots of times. I expect to hit on 1-2 as a Pro Bowler.

Filling Needs. Although I don't see big contributions this year, I think those contributions will be where we need them - DL rotations, spelling Lynch, and warm bodies at a few other spots.

Trades/Moves. Don't sleep on that trade-down in the second! I think that was a small, subtle, but important move... and let us throw the dice a few more times.

In three seasons we went from probably the worst roster in the entire league to everybody's favourite preseason Superbowl pick and most of that rebuilding was done through the draft. I think PC&JS have earned the right to go through this draft without a single pick being debated or questioned.They drafted multiple pro bowlers in their first draft and have drafted at least one pro bowler in every other draft, they've drafted guys in the 5th round that are All-pro. Last year they took two guys who SHOULD have won offensive and defensive rookie of the year and neither one cost a first round pick. In fact, of all the guys drafted in the three previous drafts only about 5 or 6 aren't on our über talented (25 seconds from the championship game) squad and yet I'm still reading comments by morons on this board who dont understand some of the seletions and think we could have had done better with this draft. PC&JS are in charge so you don't have to understand, all you need to know is that this team just got better, book it.

I loved the Christine Michael pick. Based on the PC/JS press conference, I think I'm actually higher on that pick than they were themselves.

I like Jordan Hill. Thought better DTs were available and I thought they could have gotten Hill later. JS himself intimated that it was a bit of a panic pick.

I did not like the Bryce Harper pick. His tape is terrible. I like his physical upside, and in some other drafts I'd be okay with a flawed project like him in the 4th, but there were more polished WRs with better tools that they passed on to take him. Headscratcher. Maybe Harper ends up great regardless, but I still didn't like the value/decision.

I love Jesse Williams the player but I wasn't keen on drafting another Red Bryant super early. Early 5th seemed like a good place to get one, and Williams is easily a 1st round talent for that type of role. Easily. Everything about him other than football is awesome, too (mullet-hawk, facepaint, Aussy, whole family got tattoos in his honor). Pick grew on me.

I really like the Tharold Simon pick. He's a much more exciting prospect than Jeremy Lane or Byron Maxwell were the last couple years. Simon's on a totally different level. I had a 2nd round grade on him. A lot of people did. He's got some character concerns, but I love his fit in our system and his tools are some of the best in this draft.

Even though Seattle technically traded up for Williams, in Schneider's mind he was trading up for Simon because if not for the trade up they would have just taken Jesse Williams with that early 5th. Schneider had a Freudian slip during his conference, saying that the trade up was for Simon and not Williams.

I liked the Ty Powell pick, but on the downside, I'm guessing he's more likely to be a PS guy than make our roster.

Spencer Ware is growing on me, FAST. He's a monster pass blocker, a great receiver, and, as crazy as this sounds, I think his balance, agility, and resilience are all at least as good as Marshawn Lynch, maybe better. He's got a ton of power, too. Only thing he lacks is speed. If he ran a 4.40, he'd be a megastar. I figured he had to be good when Seattle spent a SECOND pick on a RB, and after watching him, I totally get it. He's a special player, though he's currently roster fringe, obviously. I think he's very similar to Chris Ivory, but I personally like Ware even more.

The rest of the picks I didn't care for. Felt like wasted picks, but lets see what kind of magic Tom Cable works.

I liked the LBs they got in UDFA, particularly Craig Wilkins.

The reason I didn't give a higher grade despite them having some players I like is because I see a lot of backups, rotational players, and specialists in this group. The only player of the bunch that I feel really excited about as a potential megastar is Christine Michael, and he's got some hurdles to overcome before he gets there, not to mention he's part of what I think is the best group of running backs in the NFL, so there's a lot of competition for him to beat. I really like Tharold Simon too, but he's probably going to be buried treasure on our roster the same way that Walter Thurmond is.

And FWIW, Pete and John seemed a little downtodden in their draft press conferences the last two days. Not a lot of excitement. Schneider looked downright bummed at times. I'm thinking there were some frustrating close misses for them in the draft that we don't know about. I think even John Schneider would probably grade his draft well short of an A, if his body language was any indication. In 2012 and 2010 they were beaming with excitement during and after those drafts. Not this year.

Last edited by kearly on Sun Apr 28, 2013 12:53 am, edited 3 times in total.

FWIW, this was how I graded the last three drafts they day they finished, and how I'd grade them in retrospect:

2010: A / A+2011: C- / B-2012: A+ / A+

Those were the grades I had after the draft the last 3 years. I think 2011 is better in retrospect, though if you take Sherman out of the mix it looks pretty bad right now. Sherman really saved that draft. Wright's the next best player and he's just barely above average when you factor his coverage issues, IMO. Baldwin, Johnson, and Portis were nice UDFA additions, but people usually don't count UDFA as part of draft grades. Overall I'd say my draft day grades have been pretty much right on, although in 2011 being a minor exception.

This draft to me, feels similar to 2011 in as much as it's one we'll really need to be regrading a couple of years from now rather than at the end of the season.

One thing that seems to have been overlooked regarding Ware is how important MRob is as Lynch's lead blocker. I don't see MRob going anywhere this year, but given how important the run is to this teams identify, if we have Michael/Ware ready to go as replacements for Lynch/MRob in a couple of years, I think that's huge.

Sure, there are players/positions we'd all like to have seen taken, I'd like to have seen a QB in the 7th for instance, but right now, it's a solid B for me.

The guys on the NFL network just said we made the most improvement before the draft but the least improvement in this draft. They graded our picks at the bottom but added that that they weren't sure what our goals were.

brimsalabim wrote:The guys on the NFL network just said we made the most improvement before the draft but the least improvement in this draft. They graded our picks at the bottom but added that that they weren't sure what our goals were.

That was Tom Waddle that said that. He is a Chicago Bears homer and knows nothing about the Hawks or the draft. I wouldn't put much stock into anything he says.

Since OP said to include Harvin I gave it an A. But, without including Harvin, it's about a C+/B-. Don't know why we drafted 2 RB's. Hopefully these OL 7th rounders or some UDFA's are diamonds to get some depth there. I don't want to relive 2011. Competition should be interesting at a lot of positions.

With Percy I give it a solid A+. Without Percy I'd give it a B. I was taken aback by most of the early picks but after doing some research I really like all of the picks through round 5. After round 5 though almost all of the picks(except Ty Powell) really left me scratching my head. Overall though I think givn our team depth, we did pretty well. I really like how you can see who they are trying to backup/replace in the future.

I didn't factor in Percy, and voted hard C. With Harvin, it goes up to A-.

The only player drafted I see helping us out immediately is Jesse Williams or Jordan Hill. The rest may be roster fodder. On the bright side, it's not like we needed much immediate help any way. I also like the potential of Chris Harper and Simon....I'm psyched about that for the future. Also, so long as Christine Michael stays out of trouble and out of the tub, he could be starting too in a few years.

The Harvin trade looks better now than it did at the time (and it looked good then).

Addressed the interior defensive line. A great need as we had only a single viable starter and 4 depth guys. People are down on the Jordan Hill pick but forget we play a hybrid scheme where he fits better on our team than in a conventional 4-3 3 tech spot. He could be a back-up at both Red and Mebane's positions while Williams would basically play where Branch did last year.

Filled offensive depth needs at every skill position (except QB). We would have to get in a lot of injury trouble on offense for it to be very noticeable - which was not the case before (think of an injury to Marshawn, M-Rob or Zach Miller) - there would be a very noticeable drop in talent.

Grabbed value in the 5th and 7th rounds.

Snuck in Browner's replacement and K.J. Wright depth for good measure.

The only thing this team is missing right now is a good FS back-up for Earl. Besides Wilson, he is our most important player without a truly viable back-up.

Great point! I was really wondering about the running back picks in particular, but seeing them as backups (awesome backups with far less talent drop-off than we are accustomed to!) for RB and FB is exciting (...and as future replacements down the road). This uncharted waters deal is scarey.....but very very heady stuff!

I'd give it an A. They got at least 4 guys including Harvinthat have a pretty good chance at being starters eventually, which is a very solid number. The one pick I don't like was Luke Willson in the 5th. I can't imagine anyone else would have even thought about him until the 7th

After watching Bowie highlights (which I posted into his stickied thread) I'm a lot higher on him as a prospect. While he was a "small school nobody" he'd actually played legitimate left tackle at OK State, so he's got some real experience and looked good doing it. That may bump my mood about this draft from a B to closer to A territory.

"The ultimate number is W's, and that’s what matters in Santa Clara. As such, Jed York does not own the 49ers; Russell Wilson does." - Paul Gutierrez

B- (not including Harvin, which I think automatically propels it to an A)

I agree with the media grade we received. I think our two 5th round picks would have been low 2nd high 3rd round picks in most drafts. I like the two receiver picks as well, we finally got a bigger WR in the draft so that was nice to see. I don't however under any circumstance think it was necessary to draft two RB's, in my opinion I think its necessary to go with more obvious concerns like doubling up on a pick for a defensive lineman. That being said most of us though last years draft wasn't very good either. I trust PC/JS